Electronic commerce, such as online shopping, has been increasingly common since the advent of the Internet. Online shopping websites generally provide a user interface for customers to select products to purchase, and then have their orders processed.
Many large companies have elaborate websites that can track and display inventory and process payments directly at their websites. However, designing and implementing such a website typically requires skilled technical expertise and complicated computer program coding. This process can take months to complete, even for experienced web designers. Further, successful implementation of such a website requires the use of a wide variety of programs and technologies from a wide variety of external sources. Thus, multiple web designers having different backgrounds and different expertise may be required.
Large companies typically have the resources and a need to implement elaborate websites having inventory tracking and payment processing capabilities, among other technologies. However, smaller companies and individual users, such as a person having a blog or a home based business, generally do not have the resources to implement such a website. Further, a smaller company or individual user may not generate enough sales to justify investing the amount of money required.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for an improved means for creating an online store.